Scientists seeking to understand the intricacies of high-temperature superconductivity—the ability of certain materials to carry electrical current with no energy loss—have been particularly puzzled by a mysterious phase that emerges as charge carriers are added that appears to compete with superconductivity.

Research from North Carolina State University finds that impurities can hurt performance – or possibly provide benefits – in a key superconductive material that is expected to find use in a host of applications, including future particle colliders.

An international team of scientists has reported the first experimental observation of the quantum critical point (QCP) in the extensively studied “unconventional superconductor” TiSe2, finding that it does not reside as predicted within the superconducting dome of the phase diagram, but rather at a full GPa higher in pressure.

An electromagnet, a magnet whose magnetic field is produced by the flow of electric current, works until the electric current ceases. The magnetic field in a simple electromagnet is created by a wire passing through it with an electric current. The strength of the magnet depends on the amount of current. By making the wire into a coil the magnetic field is concentrated. A straight tube coil is a solenoid. A stronger magnetic field can be produced by putting a ferromagnetic material, such as...